Language and how words are defined and interpreted has become more and more of a contentious issue on a social level in recent years. Two words that are used on a daily basis on our scene are ‘drag’ and ‘cabaret’. But what do these words actually mean independently? Do they get misused and are they interchangeable? And most importantly, what do they mean to the artists that perform in our bars and clubs week in, week out? Jason Reid asked a cross-section of those artists to sum both terms up in a sentence this week…
Charlie Hides
Drag is an opportunity for me to create, play, entertain and earn a living while wearing a shit-load of make up.
Cabaret is MY LIFE, my oxygen, my calling, and the fact that it’s ephemeral makes it even more precious.
Titti La Camp
Drag is the art of gender illusion.
Cabaret is live performance – catering to the widest spectrum of performance, in an intimate venue.
Maxi Moore
Drag is unpicking the fabric of reality and playing with it, ripping it, stretching it, letting yourself unravel and then making yourself up until you become naked again.
Cabaret is the simple presentation of something: a song, a dance, a strip-tease, to an audience, and when an audience start to cheer, that most essential experience of sharing, storytelling and liveness is what’s called cabaret.
Connie Lingus
Drag is channelling your inner diva.
Cabaret is the chance to show her off.
Sink The Pink
Drag is a pure celebration – escaping into another version of yourself and allowing your audience to escape with you.
Cabaret is having a ridiculous idea and running with it, and if you want to paint yourself green and tie a fish to your willy, then Sink The Pink will nurture your vision!
LoUis CYfer
Drag is my moment to explore and identify the possibilities and boundaries that gender impose.
Cabaret is a fast-paced family of fabuLoUis freaks.
Miss Hope Springs
Drag is a joyous, irreverent, gender-bending romp with no holds (or holes) barred.
Cabaret is an exploration of the human condition through song, comedy and physical theatre.
Myra DuBois
Drag is a style of performance in which one gender portrays the other, some consider it to be an offensive modern gendered blackface, others consider it to be nice background noise to a few jäger bombs, but it takes all sorts to make a world.
Cabaret is a style of performance, immediate and intimate for both performer and audience, that is often nostalgically contemporary.
Meth
Drag is limitless, powerful, liberating and fucking expensive!
Cabaret is the perfect median between high art and low entertainment…when done right.
Holestar
Drag is subversive, queer and other, inhabiting and embodying something both masculine and feminine, whilst celebrating it, throwing glitter to the wind and your knickers in the air.
Cabaret is something that requires talent: anyone can play dress up but entertaining and holding the attention of a variety of audiences is tough but incredibly rewarding.
Jeff Kristian
Drag is a delicious, fruity lollipop in an enticing, sparkly wrapper.
Cabaret is sucking it.
Drag With No Name
Drag is an undervalued form of artistry, embraced by those with a love for life, and snubbed by the kind of people who wouldn’t even laugh if their nan farted.
Cabaret is something the gay scene would be so very much poorer without.
La Voix
Drag is an exaggerated expression of the female form, and also means you have your days free and generally spend your life shaving.
Cabaret is an expression of theatre and art with no rules, thrown into the basements and bars, on display for all who want to escape life for that moment.
Doctor Woof
Drag is the opportunity to completely let go of all inhibitions by changing my personal context.
Cabaret is being entertaining regardless of context.
Baga Chipz
Drag is a man in a dress with a persona; anyone can do drag and anyone can be who they want to be.
Cabaret is being able to entertain an audience and make a living/career from it.
Joe Black
Drag is channelled into an individual, when that person performs they embody it and invite an audience to peek into the world and persona they’ve created in themselves.
Cabaret is a breakdown of the fourth wall, which immerses and invites an audience into its strange, unusual and brilliant world.
Mary Mac
Drag is humour, glamour and a whole lot of cheek.
Cabaret is entertainment: something for everyone.
Dannii Dee
Drag is hard work and when that pays off it’s the best feeling in the world.
Cabaret is performing onstage but NOT singing in a karaoke style.
